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I can see why people watch some streamers but I cant fathom why anyone would give them money. 
How much Twitch Streamers Make (and the insanity)
- Thread starter Vexr
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Soldato
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What's the percentage of streamers who earn £1,000+ a month?
Never been one for Twitch streams. I don't like not knowing how long a video will be going on for. I also don't care for the Twitch chat, or hearing the streamer just constantly read out message from people or thanking for donations.
I'd rather watch an edited down Youtube video.
It has got to be an extremely small percentage of people who are actually earning a living wage from streaming.
I'd rather watch an edited down Youtube video.
It has got to be an extremely small percentage of people who are actually earning a living wage from streaming.
Twitch emotes and commissions are a big thing on twitch. There are even art streamers where you see them making the emotes for other twitch streamers making some comfortable money. They've established themselves quite a bit and turn up to those twitch-con events making contacts and future business opportunities.
Then there are others doing water/canvas painting for exhibitions. They've got quite big stalls. Plus again most of them attend twitch-con making contacts building up a clientele. Their work is quite stellar.
Associate
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I can see why people watch some streamers but I cant fathom why anyone would give them money.
If it's a medium size stream that do it as their full time occupation then the money given is how they can do it full time. If you watch that stream and want it to continue you may be minded to sub from which they get 50%. And you get its unique channel emotes which can be used on any Twitch stream chat.
Also with Amazon Prime you get a free sub every month.
And as for watching Twitch vs YT, you can interact with the streamer live through chat, which is not possible with a pre-recorded YT video.
Twitch is also a good way of gauging if you would like to play a game, in a manner an edited video review won't show. I had people watching my just finished Rage 2 playthrough for that reason and they were able to ask me questions about it.
Soldato
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Oh they make an absolute ton of money, Especially people like DrDisrespct,Another streamer I watched called Zombiebarricades he use to get a TON of donations each stream they just didn't stop lol,But fair play
Soldato
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Seems like hes doing incredibly well,especially in the fortnight scene as theres a lot of competition for him so many people streaming fortnight.
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Like any competitive entertainment field it's the top handfull who make the big money, of the people who try.
And on Twitch there is a snowball effect where the biggest viewership gets the stream to the front of the game list. New people click on that and a proportion will stay.
I've been streaming for 3 years and haven't made a penny (although I did get a paid voicework through it).
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git gud ya scrub
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git gud ya scrub
I am good, but it's a cruel world.
Streaming what though?
Soldato
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I would say for every hour I spend watching TV, I watch 20 hours of Twitch, I find it far more interesting to me and only have TV for the rest of the family.
I totally agree with what some have said on this thread, in that there are many that put in the grind to get to make content creation (I hate that phrase too) a viable thing, it's not easy and I know many that have given up as they simply could not afford it. I'm a moderator on several channels with varying numbers of viewers and if you stopped to work out the approximate hourly rate they got, most of us wouldn't even open our eyes, let alone get out of bed for that sort of money.
The likes of Summit, Doc, Shroud etc, they were on Twitch from years ago and have specific appeals (variety/RP/entertainment; entertainment; FPS nerd), some other streamers have great (but relative) success from playing a single game, others a variety of games. Some friends of mine gave up their full time jobs to try and make a career out of it, none succeeded. I started streaming but had to give up due to health reasons but it is definitely not an easy thing to do. I would guess that for every 10,000 streamers, there is one that gets triple digit payouts from Twitch a month.
One streamer I used to follow, gave up full time work when he reached 300 subscribers and is now on a regular 1200 per month which must net them just over £2k after FX, taxes and charges. They stream 50+ hours a week, plus release 2 YouTube videos a week (of a good length) which takes approximately 5 hours a piece. I understand they get a couple of hundred dollars a month on a good month, from YT. They get maybe £100 a month for donations. Works out under £10 an hour. That is pretty good going for a relatively small content creator with an average viewership of 800-1200 per stream.
Getting affiliate on Twitch is a piece of cake these days, so earning money from streaming is definitely more viable than when it was just limited to Partners only, but depending on the game, the only income received could be just from the handful of subs you have. A friend of mine I met online has anywhere from 30-60 subs a month, it really isn’t much he gets a month but he enjoys the interaction, so why not.
I probably subscribe to anywhere from 2-6 streamers a month, depending if I'm moving around channels or staying with the few I mod on that particular month. I have gifted many subs in the past as I think it’s a good way to support the streamer.
One thing is for sure, Twitch (or other streaming sites) is not an easy way to make money, it's a good way to meet people but some just setup OBS or Streamlabs OBS, have a crappy muffled mic or poor quality channel setup and expect people to come, the anti has definitely been upped over the years, with some friends of mine making good money supplying channel artwork, advice and more, in order to help out streamers.
I totally agree with what some have said on this thread, in that there are many that put in the grind to get to make content creation (I hate that phrase too) a viable thing, it's not easy and I know many that have given up as they simply could not afford it. I'm a moderator on several channels with varying numbers of viewers and if you stopped to work out the approximate hourly rate they got, most of us wouldn't even open our eyes, let alone get out of bed for that sort of money.
The likes of Summit, Doc, Shroud etc, they were on Twitch from years ago and have specific appeals (variety/RP/entertainment; entertainment; FPS nerd), some other streamers have great (but relative) success from playing a single game, others a variety of games. Some friends of mine gave up their full time jobs to try and make a career out of it, none succeeded. I started streaming but had to give up due to health reasons but it is definitely not an easy thing to do. I would guess that for every 10,000 streamers, there is one that gets triple digit payouts from Twitch a month.
One streamer I used to follow, gave up full time work when he reached 300 subscribers and is now on a regular 1200 per month which must net them just over £2k after FX, taxes and charges. They stream 50+ hours a week, plus release 2 YouTube videos a week (of a good length) which takes approximately 5 hours a piece. I understand they get a couple of hundred dollars a month on a good month, from YT. They get maybe £100 a month for donations. Works out under £10 an hour. That is pretty good going for a relatively small content creator with an average viewership of 800-1200 per stream.
Getting affiliate on Twitch is a piece of cake these days, so earning money from streaming is definitely more viable than when it was just limited to Partners only, but depending on the game, the only income received could be just from the handful of subs you have. A friend of mine I met online has anywhere from 30-60 subs a month, it really isn’t much he gets a month but he enjoys the interaction, so why not.
I probably subscribe to anywhere from 2-6 streamers a month, depending if I'm moving around channels or staying with the few I mod on that particular month. I have gifted many subs in the past as I think it’s a good way to support the streamer.
One thing is for sure, Twitch (or other streaming sites) is not an easy way to make money, it's a good way to meet people but some just setup OBS or Streamlabs OBS, have a crappy muffled mic or poor quality channel setup and expect people to come, the anti has definitely been upped over the years, with some friends of mine making good money supplying channel artwork, advice and more, in order to help out streamers.
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Caporegime
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This is no different to your boss at work who earns 3x your salary. Is he smarter than you or more capable than you? Probably not but he had the right contacts and was in the right place at the right time to be on the big bucks. I am sure the percentage who make big bucks is really small. Just as the big Youtube stars.
I watch a fair amount of twitch. I like Giantwaffle, whom I subscribe to. I find his intellectual content interesting and his voice and manner relatively relaxing so I can have it on a 2nd screen or as background noise while I'm working. I also sub to an OCUKer via twitch prime which I'll upgrade at some point.
I don't begrudge streamers what they earn. It's completely voluntary to subscribe and you can watch without doing so. If it's a moral matter of kids spending their money then parents (I am a parent) should be more involved in what their kids are doing in their spare time.
I see it as a temporary career, as do many streamers. Lirik for example heavily invests in business and talks openly about how he's ready for the whole thing to end at any moment.
As long as everyone is paying their taxes and it's an optional payment then :shrug:
I suppose the "bits" and "cheers" etc are borderline on the moneygrab.
I don't begrudge streamers what they earn. It's completely voluntary to subscribe and you can watch without doing so. If it's a moral matter of kids spending their money then parents (I am a parent) should be more involved in what their kids are doing in their spare time.
I see it as a temporary career, as do many streamers. Lirik for example heavily invests in business and talks openly about how he's ready for the whole thing to end at any moment.
As long as everyone is paying their taxes and it's an optional payment then :shrug:
I suppose the "bits" and "cheers" etc are borderline on the moneygrab.
I can see why people watch some streamers but I cant fathom why anyone would give them money.
I pay for books, I pay for movies. If I didn't, nobody would make books or movies.
I think it's fair to simplify it to "live support" so to speak, books, movies and games can be supported after the fact as the content is "done", but live streaming is quite literally about the moment.
You're paying for something to continue to provide, rather than paying to play something that has already been provided, you can also watch for free if it so pleases, it's quite liberal.
You can also throw them some money for the enjoyment you have already gotten from them. I know I've donated to a few youtubers that I've watched in the past (I don't watch much youtube anymore), and also subscribe to Rooster Teeth First to support them.